Henry Posner III

Henry Posner III is the globe-trotting chairman of Railroad Development Corporation (RDC), a railway investment and management company, and he’s photographed railroads in fifty-four countries. In addition to RDC, he also serves as chairman of Iowa Interstate Railroad, RDC-Deutschland, EuroRail, and family investment firm The Hawthorne Group. His leadership roles have taken him across the world and provided him with photographic access that few have enjoyed. In 2022, Posner and the Center announced a project to digitize and archive his color and black and white photography.

Born in 1955 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Posner attended Shady Side Academy as a student and fostered an immediate and lifelong fascination for the world of railroading. He attended Princeton University in New Jersey, graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering before attending the Wharton School and receiving his Master of Business Administration degree.

During his college years, Posner held positions with Amtrak, The Official Railway Guide, and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific. He entered full-time railroad service at Conrail in 1977, serving its operating, marketing, and sales departments in Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia.

Departing Conrail in 1987, Posner, with his partner Bob Pietrandrea, founded RDC, which defines itself as a “global railway investment and management company, rooted in bold, ambitious partnerships.” As chairman, Posner has overseen the investment in and operation of railroading ventures around the world, ranging from Guatemala and Peru to Estonia and Germany. RDC’s history is profiled in the book Railroaders Without Borders by Prof. H. Roger Grant (Indiana University Press, 2015).

In February 2022, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Posner briefly assisted in crewing and interpreting on board a refugee rescue train operated by RDC Deutschland between Frankfurt (Oder) station and Hannover Messe station in Germany.

Posner additionally serves as chairman of the family investment firm the Hawthorne Group; as President of the EBT Foundation, a nonprofit organization formed to restore and operate the East Broad Top Railroad; as Iowa Interstate’s alternate director at the Association of American Railroads; as a board member of the Independent School Chairpersons’ Association; as an Emeritus Trustee and former President of the Winchester Thurston School; and as a member of the Transportation Research Board’s Agriculture and Food Transport Subcommittee. He also teaches undergraduate courses on rail deregulation and privatization at Carnegie Mellon University’s, Pittsburgh and Qatar campuses, and has taught a graduate module at the Denver Transportation Institute.

Philanthropically, Posner’s activities have included serving as chairman of the Posner Foundation, which supports the Jewish community in the former Soviet Union, and participation in Operation Lifesaver, the largest rail safety education organization in the United States.

Named among the “75 People You Should Know” by TRAINS magazine for its 75th Anniversary, Posner was the recipient of a Paul Harris Fellowship from Rotary International for his work in Guatemala revitalizing the nation’s rail network. He is an occasional contributor to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on regional affairs.

Posner currently lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his wife, Anne Malloy, with whom he has three children: Ida, Hannah, and Gus.